


Family is Everything (OLD)

by MRSHYGUY45



Category: The Walking Dead (Comics), The Walking Dead (TV), The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Bisexual Carl Grimes, Bisexual Disaster Clementine (Walking Dead), Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Daryl Dixon, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Kid Judith Grimes, Lesbian Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running), Multiple Endings, Negan Being Negan (Walking Dead), One-Eyed Carl Grimes, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Past Character Death, Possible Character Death, Protective Carl Grimes, Sexual Humor, Swearing, Teen Crush, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-06-29 19:53:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15736260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MRSHYGUY45/pseuds/MRSHYGUY45
Summary: (NEW VERSION: This Sorrowful Life)Carl and Judith have been on the run following the destruction of Alexandria by the hands of Negan and his Saviors. For years, it's just been him and his sister on the road, running from their past. Judith is the only family he had left...his only reason for staying strong.Until, they come across a boarding school run by kids their own ages. Maybe they found a new home...and new friends to call family. Unbeknownst to them, the school has a dark secret that may have Carl face his past yet again.





	1. Pray For Us

**Author's Note:**

> #1: Carl is following is age from the comics. So, that means he was 11 during the events of All Out War.
> 
> #2: I will be using TV Judith since she lives on in the show.
> 
> #3: I will be using the AMC-verse as reference, with the only comic inclusion being Carl's age and looks.
> 
> #4: There is a 6-year time-skip following the events of Alexandria's downfall.
> 
> #5: Updates for this book will be slightly slow, maybe a chapter every week or two. Not only for editing purposes, but for episode releases and plot planning.
> 
> (UPDATED VERSION COMING SOON)

‘ _Breathe, Carl…just breathe_.’

17-year-old Carl Grimes took a deep breath, those thoughts repeating in his head as he pulled the bowstring gently back behind his ear. He aimed the bow with his one good eye, sticking his tongue out in concentration. His target nibbled on some of the green grass in front of it, its ears twitching in excitement.

_TWISH!_

_THUNK!_

‘ _Yes_ ’

The rabbit lay motionless on the ground as soon as his arrow pierced through its small body. Carl smiled proudly to himself when he picked up the carcass with his gloved hand by its tail, delighted on how heavy it was. Hopefully, it was enough to last them a day or two.

He pulled the arrow out of its body awkwardly, managing to get small specks of the rabbit’s blood on his dark blue denim jacket. Not that he cared, since the jacket and the fur inside it was dirty as is. His jeans, that matched with his jacket, were tattered and the sleeveless, white shirt worn underneath his jacket was spotted with specks of mud.

His greasy, onyx colored hair was slicked back, reaching the back of his neck and behind his ears.

The most notable feature on the boy was the bandaged wrapped around his right eye. The bandaged was slightly colored on using different colors of marker as if someone stabbed it repeatedly with them.

“You got it!” A small voice cheers from the bushes Carl hid in.

A young girl, around the age of 6, practically skipped over to the older boy, grinning at the thought of eating a good meal once again. Her round face was filthy with dirt and her ash blonde hair, braided into two pigtails, swayed back and forth behind her.

She donned a small, worn out denim jacket with a dirt-stained blue t-shirt underneath it. Her jeans were ripped up and cut as if she did it herself and her brown & leather combat boots looked a size too small on her feet. Around her knees were black, hunting knee pads Carl had found for the both of them so they wouldn’t injure themselves in the future.

“I knew you would!” She gave the boy a small squeeze on the side of his body.

Carl chuckles at her whilst putting the rabbit carcass in an empty sack she handed to him, “I wouldn’t wanna disappoint you now would I, Judith?”

Judith is the younger sister of Carl, both being kids of the former King County Sheriff’s Deputy Rick Grimes and his wife Lori Grimes. Carl was born long before the apocalypse began, but Judith was born well into it. She was born in West Georgia Correctional Facility where their family and others stayed for a while.

Lori was going to die from blood loss giving birth to her. Not from birth itself, rather the C-Section she had to get in order for Judith to survive. Carl was there when she was cut open. He was there to hear her screams as one of their friends, Maggie, cut her open and pulled out Judith. He wished the horror would end there, but he knew what had to come next.

He shot his Mom shortly after to prevent her from turning.

When he told his Dad what happened, Rick began to lose it. He started to act like he was insane. He loved Lori so much. All the hardships they went through with his former friend-turned-enemy Shane, Hershel’s Barn, the journey he went on to see her and Carl…

Now, she was gone.

“You never disappoint me, big brother.” Judith smiled, carrying the sack over her shoulder.

Carl placed his bow back in its strap on his backpack and says, “And you never disappoint me, Judy.”

Judith frowned at the nickname, “Do you think we can find a new nickname for me? Judy makes me sound like a old lady.”

He couldn’t help but feel guilty at that. He’s been calling her that ever since she was smaller and she never complained about it. Why now all of a sudden?

Fixing the sheriff hat on his head, which once belonged to his Dad, Carl flashed his sister a small frown.

“I thought you liked Judy?” He asks her as they began walking down the path in the forest.

“I did…when I was a baby.” She replies with the shake of her head.

Carl then smiled at her, “How about Lil’ Asskicker? That nickname sound better?”

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree, “Really? You would call me that?”

“Why not?” Carl shrugged his shoulders, “Who’s gonna stop me? Besides, it’s the truth: you are an ass kicker.” He then glances down at her, “You know, Daryl wanted to name you that when you were born?”

Judith made a confused look on her face, her head cocked to the side, “Daryl? Was he the one with the crossbow you talked about?”

Carl nods his head at her. Daryl was one of the most badass people he ever met. He always kept to himself, but he got the job done when somebody needed his help. Not to mention he was so close with his Dad that they practically became “Apocalypse Brothers”. Daryl was stubborn as hell too, but Carl couldn’t blame him since he was stubborn as well. In a way, that redneck was like an uncle to him.

“Sure was.” Carl smirked fondly at the memories he shared with him, “He was the one who taught me how to hunt, Y’know? And how to skin an animal…”

“Can you teach me how to do that?” Judith beamed, cutting off her brother, “I always wanted to learn, but it’s disgusting to watch.”

“I was like that when Daryl first showed me.” Carl said sympathetically to his sister, “But you’ll get used to it sooner or later. All it takes is a little willpower…”

Judith cut him off with a mumbled voice, “I don’t think I have enough willpower.”

“What makes you say that?” Carl questioned her, raising an eyebrow.

His sister never replies, which worried him. Judith always gave him an answer, no matter how ridiculous or difficult the question was. What was wrong with her?

“Judith?” Carl called out to her after the short silence the two shared.

Said girl titled her head, “Hmm?” She hummed in response, fixing the sack over her shoulder.

“Did you hear my question?” He questioned.

Judith nods her head, “Yeah…”

“So why didn’t you answer?” His tone had changed straightforward, which made Judith grow nervous at the sound of it.

Before she could respond, they heard snarling coming from up-ahead. Carl narrowed his eye and motioned Judith to stay low, which she did. He saw something that resembled a person limp in the distance, its clothes bloodied and torn apart.

Judith’s eyes went wide at the sight of it.

“A Ghoul…” she warns her brother.

They were usually called walkers, but people had many different names for them such as: roamers, lurkers, biters, geeks, and creepers. Since there was no official name, Carl had decided to let Judith call them whatever she liked, just as long as she didn’t call them “people”.

“Looks like it isn’t alone.” Carl whispered when he spotted another walker follow the first one, “Stay close to me. Be my other eye and ears, got it?”

The little girl nods, making Carl take out the hatchet that was sheathed to the back of his pants. The weapon was a gift from his Dad as well before their home got destroyed years ago. He cherished it this whole time, keeping it sharpened and clean whenever he had the opportunity to.

Just thinking back to that day made him tear up. Him and his old group had run into a large group that named themselves “The Saviors” with their leading being a barbed-wire baseball bat carrying monster named Negan. In their first encounter, he killed Glenn, one of the first people Dad met ever since the apocalypse started, smashing his head in with the bat he called Lucille.

Negan said that was just a taste of what was going to happen unless he followed his rules. He wanted half of everything we had back in Alexandria, and he meant it. Dad was so broken that he agreed to it.

They served Negan for a while until Carl went back to his base with a loaded gun and opened fire on his men, gunning a few of them down. Negan only laughed at how badass he looked and offered him a ride home. Carl had never felt so confused and scared in his whole life.

When he brought him back, Negan took it upon himself to rest in his house and cook him dinner. When Carl asked why he was still here, Negan revealed that he wanted to see Rick, but since he wasn’t home, he figured to wait there for him.

When his Dad arrived, he walked into something gruesome. One of the past leader’s sons, Spencer Monroe, was gutted like a pig and the inventory manager at Alexandria, Olivia, was shot in the head in retaliation for Rosita, another person who was in his group, missing Negan and shooting Lucille instead.

After that, something in his Dad snapped.

He planned to go to war with Negan, along with the other communities who was under Negan’s rule. He gathered almost anyone he could from The Hilltop to The Kingdom to take down The Saviors once and for all. The plan was set in stone, but they had yet to find enough guns and ammunition to go through with the plan.

And that’s when Negan found the perfect time to strike.

He burned Alexandria to the ground, along with The Hilltop and The Kingdom. It was a surprise attack no one saw coming. He managed to take a group full of people and ordered his men to execute them.

Along those executed were Eugene, Rosita, Aaron, Tara, Father Gabriel, and Eric.

Daryl, Michonne, and his then-girlfriend Enid were taken captive by The Saviors during the attack. Negan said he saw something special in them and that Daryl would make a fine soldier for him. As for Michonne and Enid, Negan took them so they can become one of his many wives back at his base. He wouldn’t be surprised if Negan did this solely to say “fuck you” to them.

Maggie and Jesus, one of the inhabitants at The Hilltop, managed to get away before they got caught. Carol was injured and managed to get away with them. Carl hasn’t seen them since.

The last two to put up a fight was his Dad and King Ezekiel, the ruler of The Kingdom. Carl thought he’d put up the most fight, considering he had a fucking pet tiger. Instead, Shiva was the one who did the most damage until she succumbed to the bullet wounds The Saviors sprayed her with when trying to save her master.

Negan was the one to deliver the final blow to the “king” using Lucille. He had them kneel down on the floor and watch Alexandria burn to the ground, mocking them as they watched.

“ _You see the shit you’ve started, Rick?” Negan laughed as tears began to flow down the sheriff’s face, “Just seeing you like this pulls my goddamn heartstrings…but all you had to do was follow my fucking rules! This little rebellion you tried to start? Well, look where it got you! Absolutely nowhere! And to think you had some balls, Rick…”_

_He swung Lucille against King Ezekiel’s skull, creating a sickening cracking sound. Negan brought it down on his head again. And again. And again. And again. And again until the King’s head resembled a crushed watermelon._

Carl remembered watching from behind one of the bushes, holding Judith in his arms as Negan started to talk to Rick again. Negan must’ve said something that triggered him because Rick screamed out in anger and tackled him.

_BANG_!

_Carl held back his tears as he watched his Dad collapse to the floor, blood pouring out of the bullet hole in his sternum. Judith began to fuss at the sudden loud noise and Carl had to keep her close to his chest to keep her quiet._

_Negan rose to his feet, swinging Lucille over his shoulder while looking down at the dying man, “I didn’t wanna have to do that to you, Rick. But you just had to keep busting my balls, huh? You fuckin’ failed, Rick. You failed your people. You failed your kids. And most importantly, you failed me. Fuck you, Rick. Seriously, fuck You.”_

He cried out as he swung the hatchet at an unsuspecting walker, who dropped dead on impact. Judith followed closely behind him, her butterfly knife in her hand in case any snuck up behind them.

Another walker heard the cry and limped at him, dragging its foot behind. Carl threw the hatchet at it, plunging it right into the middle of its forehead.

Picking up the hatchet, he barely had time to notice the walker next to him before Judith kicked it in its leg, breaking it with ease. She grunted as she dug her knife in its skull and pulled it out with some force.

“ _Carl…” He held his Dad’s hand as he began to gasp for air, “T-take Judith…a-and run. Take care of her for me…a-and your Mom…it’s what she would have wanted.”_

_This time, Carl didn’t fight back the tears and let them spill down his eye._

_“O-Okay, Dad…” He sobbed, clutching his hand tighter, “I promise I will.”_

_“When Lori died, I-I forgot who I was,” Rick gagged, feeling his blood slowly rise up in his throat, “y-you made me remember who I was. Remember that day I walked with you? Back you were j-just a child?”_

_Carl nods his head, “Y-Yeah.”_

“ _We were walking s-side by side but you were bringing me somewhere.” Rick flashed him a bloody smile, “Bringing me, bringing all of us to a new world, Carl. Y-You showed me the new world. You made it real. I see it, I remember…t-thank you.” He then caresses Judith’s cheek, leaving a smudge of blood on her face, “My sweet baby girl…C-Carl will take care o-of you now, okay? B-Be strong for h-him now…Y-You’ll always be Daddy’s lil’ girl.”_

_Judith stared at her Dad, fussing as she had no idea what was happening._

_“M-My stuff s-should be over near t-the wall.” Rick gagged, blood blocking the airways in his throat, “T-Take it a-and go…”_

_“Dad…” Carl sobbed as he brought his hand to his lips._

_“N-Negan will keep l-looking for you…so just keep m-movin’.” Rick’s eyelids began to close as he slowly leaned his head on the ground, “I love the both of you. S-show people…the new world…that you’ve shown me.”_

_And on that night, Rick Grimes, former King County Sherrif’s Deputy,_

_Former leader,_

_Former friend,_

_Former husband,_

_And former father,_

_Had died._

“Hey, Carl. Look!”

Judith snapped Carl out of his thoughts when she pointed at a building behind the trees. It appeared to be a church with the exterior walls made from cracked and broken brick. It started to give Carl mysterious and eerie vibes as they got closer to it.

The roof of the Church was green with moss and caved in at one place. The bell tower was leaning dangerously over the caved in roof. The windows were dark by dirt with some of them even being broken. Ivy was growing around the outside of the brick walls as if it came up from the very Earth itself.

“What kind of place is this?” Judith asked in curiosity, eyeing the place.

“It’s called a Church.” Her brother replies, crossing his arms over his chest as he too studied the building, “This is where people gather and worship together to Jesus.”

“Jesus?” Judith asked, interested, “Who was he? A leader like Dad was?”

“In a way, yeah.” Carl smiled at her while stopping in front of the entrance, “Okay, remember the rule when entering a new place?”

Judith nodded her head, “Yup. Always find another way out.”

“That’s right.” Carl unsheathed his hatchet again as he slowly opened the door, flinching as the door began to creak from its worn hinges.

The inside looked just as bad as the outside: the church pews were broken and mucky, broken candles and melted wax stained the floor, curtains were ripped from the windows, and the stained glasses were graffitied on with all sorts of cuss words. The part of the roof that caved in granted light to enter the room and shine directly on the lectern.

What made Carl shiver was the statue of Jesus on the wall, crucified with his head off and on the floor beside his feet, his eyes looking wide as if he witnessed what happened in here. Below the statue, the old wooden floor was painted with the familiar red substance Carl knew all too well.

Judith walked up towards one of the walls that had carvings written on them. The carvings were as followed: “ _We Have Sinned”,_

_“God is Punishing Us”,_

_“Lord Forgive Us”,_

_“Jesus Save Us_ ”,

And “ _Speak the Word Of God before it’s too late”._

“C’mon, Judith.” Carl placed a hand on her shoulder after reading the carvings himself, “Let’s look in here then leave. This place gives me the creeps.”

“You said it.” Judith mumbles.

Since this was a church, there had to be a food pantry in one of those rooms. Hopefully whoever was in here didn’t take everything. They could go for some extra food in their stomachs.

Whilst checking out the nave, Carl shook his head when he spotted more carvings on the pews with the same wording. T

The lectern was chipped and moldy, but still held a opened bible on top of it. Curiosity filled Carl as he approached the lectern.

“Looks like someone’s been reading this…” He said to himself before noticing something strange, “Weird. Some of the pages have been ripped out.”

He grazed his fingers over the left over paper from the ripped pages, feeling somewhat anxious. This place just got 10 times creepier than before…

Turning around, he saw Judith sitting in the pew in front of him, swinging her feet since she was almost tall enough to have her feet touch the floor. She was looking around at the tampered stain glasses, looking in awe as they were reflecting a dark purple light inside. Next to her was the sack with the rabbit in it.

“You okay, Judith?” He asked his sister, bending down to her level.

She nods, “Yeah, just looking at the windows. I didn’t know you can paint on them…they look really cool.”

“They’re stained glasses.” He answered with a smile, “It’s basically colored glass that people can use for decorations. Well, the church mostly uses them.”

“Ohhh. Gotcha.” She grins at her brother.

Carl stood back up to continue his scavenging when he spotted a door to the left side of the first row of pews. He approached it and took ahold of the knob and twisted it. It locked in place, making Carl huff.

“Locked.” He sighed out before taking out his hatchet and hovering it over the dead bolt.

He chopped it, leaving it dented as wood chips flew everywhere. He brought it down again, this time with more power. The lock was nearly loose, so with one last swing, he managed to break the lock.

“Nice!” Judith pumped her fist in excitement.

The first thing Carl saw when he opened the door was a pair of legs dangling in the middle of the room, followed by the sound of rope groaning as it swung by a ceiling fan. The body began to snarl once Carl and Judith entered the room, reaching out for them but the noose around its neck prevented it from doing so. A chair was knocked on the floor next to it and a piece of paper lie on the nice carpet next to it.

Then Carl noticed the clothes it had on. The walker had used to be a priest, judging by the similar outfit it had that Father Gabriel wore himself. A golden chain with a large, golden cross that looked way bigger than the chain itself dangled in front of his chest.

“He gave up…” He heard Judith’s small voice point out as she walked up to it, “He was weak…not strong like us. Right, Carl?”

Her brother bit the bottom of his lip. Judith had a…unique ideology when it came to Survival. He couldn’t help but blame himself for her mindset, since he was the one who taught her everything she needed to know.

“Right.” Carl nods as he bent down to pick up the paper off the floor.

He flipped it over to reveal a note that was written in pencil.

_Forgive me, for I cannot live in this world anymore. God is angry with us, that is why the dead were rising. I’ve prayed for a better world and prayed that God would forgive those who have sinned. I’ve tried and tried but I realized there was nothing I could do anymore. The word of God was supposed to protect me, but it only caused me more harm._

Carl shivered, putting down the note when Judith jogged over to one of the doors that was next to the priest’s desk. It was a large, grey door with a golden handle and a missing door label.

“Maybe there’s something in here?” She suggested.

“Let’s hope so.” Carl hoped, turning the knob and slowly opening the door. What was inside nearly made his jaw drop to the floor.

Shelves and shelves upon canned food filled with: Tuna, peanut butter, vegetables, beans, and different kinds of soup. Along with the cans, there was also boxed and dry goods: Cereal, crackers, noodles, Mac & cheese, and pop tarts. Condiments were there as well and Carl wouldn’t mind taking those as a bonus.

All of this food could last them months! Maybe even years!

Judith felt her mouth water as she stared at the food, “T-This must be food heaven!”

“I think we hit the jackpot, Lil’ Asskicker.” Carl laughed triumphantly, giving his sister’s shoulder a small squeeze, “Go get the sack and I’ll start filling our bag up.”

He unhooked one of the straps from his bag and placed it on the floor. Unzipping it, he opened it and the first thing he saw was his Dad’s old Colt Python that he carried with him ever since he was deputy. He and Judith, however, rarely used it. Only in a crisis would they use his gun.

He moved that aside, along with a few arrows for his bow and a canteen that needed to be filled.

“We can go for some water.” Carl said to himself, feeling his throat get dry just at the mention of it.

He also kept some of Judith’s drawings she did whenever she had crayons. Most of them were just simple doodles of him and her, but there was one that he wanted to cherish forever;

It was a drawing of them and their parents, all smiling and holding hands with a rainbow above them. In the background was a simple drawing of a house with trees colored green and butterflies filled with purple.

Judith’s representation of her brother was a doodle with him wearing a black eyepatch she colored and the sheriff hat on his head. Their Dad had a star on his shirt, representing his job as a cop while Judith gave their mother long, black that Carl found to be spot on.

If only things were the way they used to. Maybe him and Judith could live like that one day…

“Here!” Judith returned, placing the sack on the floor next to him.

“Good. Start taking as much as you can.” He instructed, taking ahold of one of the cans of vegetables.

He picked it up and heard a click of some sorts. Judith heard it too and stopped, her eyes going wide at the mysterious sound.

Glancing under the shelf, Carl’s eye went wide in horror when he noticed two grenades taped to the bottom of the top shelf. A fishing line was connected to the can he held and to the pin of one of the grenades. So when he picked it up, it managed to pull the pin with it.

“It’s fucking rigged!” Carl yells, taking ahold of Judith’s wrist with one hand and his bag in the other and running out the room.

He kicked the door shut behind him and ran out of the room when the explosion occurred, making Judith scream from the blast. Dust and smoke started to fill the church, both siblings coughing because of it.

“Judith!” Carl cried out, hugging his sister when he realized she was okay.

They heard a loud popping noise coming from the ceiling. The impact of the explosion started to make the rest of the roof cave in. Carl gasped, taking a hold of Judith and kicking down the church door to the outside with ease.

They made it in time to see the top of the church collapse like a house of cards, even more dust and debris flying everywhere. The bell tower finally toppled over, the bell ringing as it collided with the ground. Brick by brick it fell, creating a noise that they knew walkers would hear within miles.

Panting, Carl watched it crumble before snapping his head to the right, noticing dozens of walkers coming after them.

“Ghouls…” Judith gasps, holding out her butterfly knife.

“They must’ve heard that for miles.” Carl seethed, gritting his teeth at the amount coming after them.

“We’re Strong, Carl. We can take them.” Judith proudly says. She took a step forward, ready to attack before her brother stopped her, “Huh?”

Carl shook his head, “There’s too many. We have to run.”

“But they’re slow and we’re not.” Judith argued, “We can take them!”

Instead of countering, Carl grabbed her wrist while slipping his bag on one of his shoulders. Despite not wanting to leave, Judith remained silent, knowing how her brother would get if she didn’t follow his rules.

Running past the trees, her brother had no time to realize the steep hill they approached until Judith yelped, rolling down it like a log. Carl followed suit, grunting as his vision started to blurry and he felt himself get dizzy. He swallowed up some dirt trying to call out Judith’s name.

_CRACK_!

His bow rolled beside him in two pieces.

After what seemed like an eternity of rolling, the speed at which he was tumbling caused his head to whipped against the ground, knocking him out cold.

His eyelid slowly opened as he saw Judith run towards him in a panic, brushing off the leaves in her hair while picking up his hat off the ground.

“Carl!” Her voice came like an echo in his head as she pointed at the hill.

The walkers followed them and rolled down the hill themselves, some leaving behind a trail of blood and body parts as their bodies collided with the ground.

“Get up!” She cried out as she kept darting her eyes from him back to the walkers, “They’re coming! I need your help!”

Carl groaned as he held his sides, his fingertips starting to become wet. A small piece of his broken bow had managed to pierce into his side, causing blood to leak through his jean jacket and white shirt.

“S-Shit…” He hissed as the pain started to shoot through his body.

Judith gasped when the walkers drew closer, their teeth ready to chomp on anything living. Carl only groaned again, drifting in and out of consciousness.

All he remembered next was the familiar sound of a bow being shot, followed by the thud of bodies dropping.

His eye managed to open one last time to see Judith being led away by someone.

“W-Wait…” he groaned out, reaching out for his little sister, “Don’t take…”

Then everything went dark.

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Your New Sanctuary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carl awakens and must find Judith while meeting the people who saved their lives.

Consciousness was slow when returning to Carl, but when it did, the result was explosive. He bolted upright, nearly getting whiplash as he turned his head back and forth, disoriented for a moment by the extreme headache he suffered and the darkness that consumed him not too long ago. He had no time to take in his surroundings before his left abdomen stung with pain, his nerves ignoring his extreme headache. With a small hiss from the pain, he lifted up his bloodstained shirt to see a bandage placed over his wound. Surgical tape was used to hold the bandage in place, wrapping around the edges of the bandage and some of his stomach.

_Shit…_

He groaned, taking him a minute to make out the outline of the bunkbed that sat across from him, and another for the dresser beside him. On it was a medkit that was opened, revealing the bandages used on him, peroxide, a roll of thread, a sewing needle with dried blood on the tip, and the piece of his wooden bow that had punctured him. It was a fairly large piece with half of it being soaked in his blood. Next to that was duct tape, which looked recently used.

The Virginia sun was beaming brightly through the dusty window behind the dresser, earning a groan from him yet again as it caused his headache to worsen when he stared directly at it. The glass was guarded with metal bars, almost resembling the windows he’s seen at the prison. Speaking of prison, the room itself reminded him of his old cell with the ugly painted walls and the boring vibes it started to give him. Other than the beds and dresser, all the room had was a small and narrow closet, a broken bookshelf, and a small desk that was put against the wall on the other side of the room. It wasn’t _exactly_ like his cell, but it sure as hell reminded him of it.

“…Judith!” He gasped, his eye going wide when he remembered what happened after the church.

Slowly, Carl stood back on his feet. The wooden floor beneath him creaked after each step when he walked towards the cracked door. Placing his hand on the old doorknob, he gave it a turn only for it to remain stiff and still in place. He cussed, looking over his shoulder to find anything useful that can help him escape. Unfortunately, the room was too bare to aid him; the floor, despite it being cracked and stained, was clean and the closet was empty.

Glancing over at the desk, he gave a small smile when he noticed his jacket and gloves resting on the chair and his Dad’s hat sitting on top of the desk, unharmed. Alongside his hat was a flat, wooden rule that was, conveniently, placed on the desk as well. He quickly put on his clothes whilst grabbing the ruler and placing it on the floor, lifting one end of it in the air. After placing the hat on his head, he grunted as he stomped on the ruler, breaking it in two pieces. Though his end was small, it was sharp enough to stick through the door and pick the lock.

After successfully unlocking the door, he slowly opened it, poking his head out in the large hallway for any signs of danger. The hallway walls, much to his surprise, was decorated with carvings and graffiti. Though no type of paint was involved he could tell the markings and drawings were used with markers. As for the carvings, they were definitely used with knives or some type of sharp object. The wallpaper was chipped and ripped while the wall itself was broken, almost like someone punched holes in them on purpose.

He fully stepped outside and shut the door behind him. He managed to get a closer look at the carvings, only to cock his head to the side at what he read. The majority of the graffiti was simply cuss words and phrases including sexual acts and phrases. Some were rebellious statements about a school while others were about, what he thought, rumors of some kid fucking walkers. Though he was somewhat disgusted, he couldn’t help but find the immaturity humorous.

Paintings of people were hung on the wall as well, but they were doodled on using marker. Some had mustaches drawn on them along with a pair of glasses, but others had more…disrespectful art on them. Other paintings were ruined by the drawings of breasts and dicks on them and some had simple cuss words. Carl couldn’t quite figure out who they were, but judging by their outfit and stances, they used to be important people here.

Some of the furniture in the hallway, like the chairs and tables, were flipped on top of each other for barricade usage. The glass cabinets alongside the carved walls were broken and carved on them with more profanity. The shards of glass was spread around the floor and it didn’t help Carl to be silent as he started to roam the halls.

“Shit…” He whispered when he stepped on another piece of glass, shattering it even more, “Where are you, Judith?”

He hadn’t felt this worried in a long time. Ever since it was only him and Judith, she always stood by his side, never leaving his sight. Even when scavenging, she stayed in the same room as him and didn’t dare to leave otherwise. After all, she was the sole reason why he kept fighting. He promised his Dad to look after her. It was his dying wish and he was going to fulfill it.  As he kept exploring, he finally understood how his Dad felt whenever he didn’t find him in the house.

Turning the corner of the hallway, Carl suddenly stopped when he heard a door being opened. Crouching, he hid behind the corner of the wall and poked his head from behind it. The door to the room he woke up in was open, and he could spot a pair of legs that donned red rainboots and blue jeans sticking out from the doorway. Alarms started to go off in his Carl’s head from the possible threat that hunted for him. Good thing he knew exactly what to do.  As the figure investigated his whereabouts, he slowly walked towards him, the ruler close to his chest incase the person tried to attack.

As he got closer, he was able to make out more details about the figure. He wore a light blue shirt that was stained with dark spots and a white, long sleeved shirt underneath it. The boy was dark-skinned and looked older than Judith but younger than he did. Just that fact alone made Carl hesitant to threaten the boy, but he most likely knew where his sister was. And that was more important to him right now. He _was_ going to get answers one way or another.

“Drop it.”

Carl turned around so fast that it was a surprise that he didn’t get whiplash. A good distance behind him was a boy roughly around his own age, holding up a bow that looked more sturdy than his old one and pointed it right at him, the string pulled behind his ear. The red and black varsity jacket he had on was slightly torn, his face was sprinkled with freckles, and his dark blue eyes were narrowed at him. The most notable feature about him was the disaster of a hairstyle he had on his head. He had ashy, blonde hair that was styled like a mullet. This guy can give Eugene a run for his money…

By now, the younger boy noticed him and gasped again, his eyes going wide as he looked up at him. When he glanced over his shoulder, Carl’s eye slightly grew wide when he noticed the large scar around the left side of his face. He wasn’t sure if it was a burn scar or what, but it looked painful as fuck. It reminded him of Dwight’s, but Dwight’s looked more fucked up than his.

“I’m not gonna say it again.” The boy with the bow warns him, taking a step closer to him, “Drop the…whatever the fuck that is before I have to send an arrow through your skull.”

Carl looked at the boy and glared at him, “Not until you tell me where my sister is, asshole.”

“Asshole?” The boy repeats, his voice sounding surprised before shaking his head, “You really think that’s a good idea to call me that? Just put down your weapon and I can tell you where she is.”

“Not until you put down yours first.” Carl countered, “Common courtesy, right?”

The boy lowered his head slightly as if he was debating with himself if he should do it. It took a minute before he sighs, lowering his bow but still keeping his two fingers on the string. Carl slightly nods his head, thanking him before throwing the ruler on the floor. It slid across the floor and halted near the other boy’s feet.

“A ruler, huh?” He says with a slight chuckle in amusement, “That’s creative. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen something like that before.” Carl could tell he was trying to lighten things up, but he had no time for that. Not until he found his sister that is.

“Are you gonna tell me where she is or not?” He demanded through grit teeth, “Because I can make this a helluva lot more difficult for you than it has to be.”

“We’re all good here.” The boy replies, putting his bow behind his back, “No need to do that. I get it, you don’t want to be fucked with. I respect that.” The younger boy, who Carl nearly forgot about, jogged over to the other boy’s side and stood close to him, “Now, promise you’ll behave so we can take you to see your sister?”

A feeling of relief washed over Carl. He felt himself calm down at the thought of being reunited with Judith again. He didn’t know how long he’s been out for, but being that long without Judith made it feel like forever.

He slowly nods his head, “Well, I can’t promise something like that, but I can try my best. But, if you’ve done anything to her…”

“Take it easy.” The boy rose his hands in front of him, “Your sister is safe, I promise you. You’re safe here too.” He then pointed at himself, “I’m Marlon and this Tennessee.” He gestured to the younger boy next to him, who had his head lowered, “But, uh, we call him Tenn for short. He’s the one who’s been taking care of you.”

He gently placed his hand over his wound as he averted his eyes at Tenn. His head was still low, but Carl noticed his eyes trail up to see him. He was fiddling with his fingers, which he thought must’ve been a nervous habit of his.

“Uh…thanks.” He awkwardly said to Tenn, rubbing the back of his head. The boy simply continued to fiddle with his fingers, causing Marlon to frown, “I’m Carl, by the way.” He introduced himself to the mullet-haired teen in front of him.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Carl.” Marlon smiled at him while patting Tenn on his back, “And don’t mind Tenn. He, uh, doesn’t talk much.” He removed his hand from his back before nodding his head at Carl, “Come on. Let’s go see your sister.”

* * *

 

 When Marlon led him outside to the courtyard, Carl’s jaw nearly dropped to the ground at he was looking at. There stood a tall, school-like structure with ivy and vines growing around the walls and roof of the building. Brick pillars that supported the foundation was also wrapped with vines and ivy, along with some moss. He noticed how pieces of the building was missing, leaving holes and cracks on the walls and roof, showing how run down the place was. The windows were broken and the glass was replaced with board on the lower levels of the building. The upper level windows were left alone where moss quickly claimed them. The stone walls surrounding the courtyard was barely recognizable with all the moss and vines that covered it.

The courtyard itself was a sight to see. The grass around them had grown to ridiculous lengths and flowers even started to bloom on the ground. A rundown couch was set near the broken stoned fountain, which held dirty water that turned itself green. There was wooden, cafeteria tables on the other side of the courtyard, almost like the ones he would see in school. Near the entrance to the main building was a small fireplace with a large pot above it, along with firewood underneath it.

This place looked like somewhere Mother Nature would live in!

Though he found those things amazing, what had him surprised the most was the amount of kids that were here. All of them were wandering the yard, minding their own business and not yet noticing him staring at them. Most of the kids looked around his and Judith’s age, if not then in between their respective ages. He didn’t even see a single adult insight.  

Noticing the look on his face, Marlon chuckled as he stepped next to him, taking in the sight as well, “This place is pretty cool, isn’t it? I swear it gets nicer to look at as the days go by.” He then quickly changed the subject, “So you’ve been survivin’ out there a while, huh?”

Carl, who was still staring at his surroundings, nods his head, “Yeah, for a long time.”

“Take it you know how to handle yourself well?” Marlon asks, “Don’t usually see people our age out in the wild.”

Carl snapped out of his awed state and looks over at Marlon and replies, “I’m still alive, right? No bites yet.”

Marlon smirked at him, “That you are.” He then started to lead him towards the middle of the courtyard, “I’m sure it’s not easy survivin’ out there by yourself, let alone taking care of someone at the same time. Has it always been you and your sister?”

“I’ve had a group, if that’s what you mean.” Carl replies with some sorrow in his voice, “But Judith was only a baby when we were with them. After we lost them, it’s been just us ever since. She was only a year old when I had to look after her.”

“Jesus…” Marlon frowned, feeling pity for him, “I’m sure that was hard on you, right?”

The son of Rick Grimes nods his head, “Yeah, no shit.”

While walking, Carl spotted one of the kids his age carrying some firewood in his arms. The kid looked over the firewood to catch him looking at him. Carl was able to make out his afro and the round, dark-skinned face he had. As he kept walking, he practically could _sense_ the kid still staring at him from behind his back. _Weird…_

Tenn ran past him, nearly bumping into him during the process. The boy whistled to something on the wall, to which that something began to move. There was a girl his age sitting on the wall, some of her blonde hair getting near her eyes as she studied him for a moment. Wearing a dark denim vest and black combat boots stained with blood, the girl slowly shook her head once Carl met eye contact with her. He rose his eyebrow in confusion until he caught up with Marlon.

Something about that girl gave him Michonne vibes…

“It’s good we found you when we did.” Marlon spoke up with a sigh of relief whilst ignoring Tenn and the girl, “It wasn’t easy getting the two of you out of that mess. Walkers were on their way and not to mention you became dead weight once we found you. I had to carry you all the way over here…”

“How long was I out for?” Carl asks.

Marlon shrugs his shoulders, “A few hours at most.”

As Marlon went on talking, Carl stopped walking when a younger kid approached him carefully and stared at him like he was on display. Carl glanced over at Marlon, who was oblivious to what was happening, while the kid took a few steps closer to him. Okay, now things are starting to get creepy, he thought to himself as he made eye contact with him. What was with everyone staring at him? As he drew closer, he noticed the boy’s eyes slowly trail to the colored bandage wrapped around his right eye. Putting the two together, Carl’s shoulders slumped.

_People always stare at it…_

“Can you stop staring?” Carl spoke up with a harsh tone of voice, startling the young boy, “It’s very annoying…”

Without a word, the kid sprinted away, just in time for Marlon to notice him. Carl watched the boy run to a large gate and climb up a makeshift watchtower that was built where the stone wall had met the gate. It looked sturdy enough for more than one person to stand on, which impressed him a bit.

“Don’t worry about Willy.” He heard Marlon reassure him with a small smile, “Don’t mind anyone who stares at you like that. You’re just new. We haven’t seen anything like you in…ever.”

That rose some questions in Carl’s head. What did he mean by that? “Anything like you”? He wasn’t some rare species or a God or anything like that. He was a survivor, just like everyone else was. He wasn’t a leader like his Dad or a badass animal like Shiva. That’s a weird thing for Marlon to say…

Unless…

“Is this about my eye?” He suddenly asks with annoyance. Marlon’s eyes went wide when he picked up on the boy’s tone, followed by the scowl he was giving him, “I’m pretty sure you’re making it seem like I’m some fuckin’ monster or something.”

It took a while for Carl to stop worrying about people calling him a monster. Though he never actually _heard_ them say it, he knew they thought that just by the looks he was receiving back in Alexandria. He was like a walking freak show. Negan made fun of it when he snuck into Sanctuary, laughing at how gross it looked but later tried to cheer him up by calling it “badass”. Even Judith, his own sister, was scared when he first showed her his eye. For a while, Carl thought she saw him as a monster, some kind of freak for a brother. It came to no surprise that he never brought up his eye again to her. Even she dared to not bring it up again. Now, she had grown used to it, but ever since then, he didn’t take off his bandage.

“What? Of course not!” Marlon tried to reassure him, “You’re just new, Carl. It has nothing to do with your eye. Sure, some people here _want_ to know what happened to you, but that doesn’t make you a monster or anything like that.”

Carl crossed his arms over his chest, “Did anyone…look at it?” He asks with a low voice.

“Nope. Well, Tenn almost did.” Marlon responds while placing his hands on his hips, “He was going to give you a new bandage until your sister stopped him. She said you’d be pissed if anyone saw it. But, by the looks of things, you’re handling it pretty well. You’re not going to tear his head off now, are you?”

Carl shook his head, a small smirk on his face, “Nah. Not after stitching me up.”

“Good. Anyways, you can probably tell this was a school.” Marlon gestured to the large building behind them, “Now it’s whatever we want it to be.”

“Who’s in charge?” Carl asks with interest.

Marlon smirked proudly at himself while placing his hand on his chest, “Well…I am.” Carl nearly choked, “Probably sounds strange, kids run by a kid. But we do all right. We’ve got good walls, good defenses. Good location, too. No one really comes out this way anymore. We’ve carved ourselves the perfect camp. Kids are safe. We make sure of it.”

Carl pursed his lips. This place _did_ have great walls. It _did_ have a good location too. He wanted to believe that it would stay like this, he really did, but he knew deep down that this place will fall sooner or later. There was no such thing as a “safe place”. It kept walkers out, sure, but it won’t stop people who want to take it over. It won’t stop the conflict within the walls. He thought Alexandria was safe for a long time. He thought it was the start of a new life for him and his group.

Until The Wolves attacked, which led to the herd breaking in the place. Not long after, Negan burned the place to ash.

“I don’t believe you.” Carl shook his head at Marlon, “There’s no way all of you were able to keep this place afloat for so long.”

“There was more of us, but you know how that goes.” Carl picked up on how hurt he sounded before smirking at him, “Don’t worry, I got us a system in place that works well enough.” Noticing the look Carl gave him, he continued, “Allow me to make it formal: Welcome to Ericson’s Boarding School for Troubled Youth!” He spun in a small circle for dramatic effect, “You and your sister, it feels like you both fit that description.”

Carl cocked his head to the side. He thought they were troubled youths? That’s kind of odd…and nosy. Then again, he was right. They both _are_ troubled. Nowadays, every kid was troubled in some way, sometimes more ways than one. And for him, he certainly fit that description…big time.

“By now, you can say that.” Carl nodded in agreement with the mullet-haired boy, “But I wasn’t always like that. I was a fairly good kid.”

Marlon felt his sympathy, “We all had to grow up fast. Hard to tell about your sister, though.” Noticing the look Carl was giving him, Marlon explained, “She’s as cute as a button, don’t get me wrong, but she’s been quiet ever since she got here. I tried to talk to her, but she just won’t open up. Then, she started asking me these weird questions about how many walkers I’ve killed and how many people I’ve killed. She started to get _real_ personal.”

A few years back, Carl had instructed Judith to ask three questions to any new people they met. Fortunately, they hadn’t run into people yet but he was surprised that Judith even remembered the questions. According to his Dad, who created them, they asked them to see if anybody was too dangerous to bring back home. It was a defense mechanism that actually worked a few times. Sort of like a first shield. Though, the explanation he told Judith was slightly different.

If they ever came across new people, they’d ask the questions to see if they were too dangerous to stay with. If someone had killed more people than walkers (which is super rare in his case), they leave them immediately. If someone hadn’t killed any walkers, they’d leave them since, in Judith’s eyes, they were too weak to stay with. It concerned him that she’d think like that, but the only person he had to blame for her ideology was himself.

 “She’s just cautious about you guys, and I don’t blame her.” Carl replies, “You’re the first group she ever came across. She’s just nervous is all.”

Before Marlon could respond, Willy’s voice echoed around the courtyard like a megaphone, “Yo! Marlon!” He cupped his hands around his mouth for more effect, “We’ve got walkers on the fence!”

Marlon’s eyebrows scrunched together in annoyance, “Shit. I gotta take care of this. Knowing Willy it’s probably just two grandma walkers and an angry squirrel. You got bigger fish.” He began to walk away from Carl, “The kid’s inside. She should be with Louis.”

“Louis?”

“Oh, right.” Marlon rolled his eyes, “Just listen for the music. You’ll find him.” He then ran towards the gate, “Get a move on, Willy. And where’s your damn weapon?!”

Carl rolled his eye with a small huff, unsatisfied with Marlon’s answer. He turned around to walk to the main building until noticing the girl on the wall still staring at him. Though he didn’t show it, he was slightly annoyed by the attention he was getting here. Being in the spotlight wasn’t something he admired. In fact, it was something he always dreaded. Though he couldn’t blame them for staring at him. After all, Marlon _did_ say they haven’t seen a new face in a long time. He figured they were just keeping an eye on him, the same way he did to those who joined his old group.

Turning his head to avoid her, Carl managed to make eye contact with another kid here, who was also studying him. Near one of the tables stood a boy around his age with mid-length brown hair, some of which fell over his eyes and behind his ears, and skin a few shades darker than his was smirking at him from over his shoulder. The plaid flannel he wore, resembling something Carl would’ve worn back at Alexandria, had patches of different colors on certain parts of his flannel. The buttons on his shirt weren’t done, exposing a black undershirt underneath it. His blue jeans, despite being in the apocalypse, looked fairly clean with a few stains of dirt on his pant legs and tied around his head was a black bandanna.

The boy simply waved at him as if he was an old friend. Carl could only purse his lips in response, feeling somewhat creeped out by him. Though, he had to admit, it was nice for _someone_ to greet him properly.

* * *

 

Entering the main building, the inside was what Carl pretty much expected it to look like; a damn mess. Old papers were scattered around the room like leaves during the fall, more of the walls of the school had graffiti and carvings on them, furniture was flipped and stacked near some of the doors and entrances while others had been covered with sheets, and he noticed more glass shards on the large staircase in front of him. The large window behind the stairs was filthy with both dust and moss, but that didn’t stop the sun from emitting a bright light inside. The light gave the room a nice glow to it, and Carl couldn’t agree more.

He stopped examining his surroundings when he heard the sound of a piano play from one of the corridors.

“Follow the music…” Carl repeated Marlon’s instructions to himself as he started to walk down the corridor. As he got further down, the music started to get louder and louder.

“Fine! Be that way, you little shit!” He heard a young, southern voice yell. Carl stopped in his tracks when a large girl around his age with red hair and freckles stepped out of the room, a scowl on her face. Her scowl then turned into a glare when she noticed Carl, “Hey! ‘Bout time you woke up! Your girl just tried to cut me!”

Carl’s eye went wide for a moment, “…Huh?” Was all he could muster out.

“You deaf?” The girl’s face turned red from both anger and annoyance, “Your girl tried to cut my finger off! I was tryin’ to be nice, but she didn’t talk. Then she asked all these weird questions and when I didn’t answer, she drew on me! She’s lucky she didn’t get a boot to the head!”

That came as a surprise to Carl. That just didn’t seem like Judith. Even if this was the first time she dealt with people on her own, he would’ve never guessed that was how she’d respond to them. Judith being violent was something he just couldn’t believe.

“Judith’s a good kid.” Carl defended his sister, “She wouldn’t do something like that. Did you provoke her or anything like that?”

The girl scoffed at him, “Provoke? All I did was try to talk to her.” She shook her head at him, “If you don’t believe me, then screw you _and_ her.” She then stormed off, nearly bumping shoulders with Carl while doing so. He was so confused that all he could do was make a face as he watched her walk away. What the fuck just happened?

Shaking his head, he approached the room and stood in the doorway, feeling all his problems melt away at what he saw. Judith sat with her legs crossed on the floor, her chin resting on her hands as she listened and watched the piano being played by another boy his own age in the middle of the room that resembled a library. This boy, unlike the other kids, dressed more…formal, in his own words. Wearing a light-brown trench coat and his hair in dreadlocks, the boy swayed to his own music as he hit the keys softly, filling the room with his warm music. Judith seemed to admire the music because she, too, swayed to it.

The last time he heard anything this peaceful was when Beth and Maggie sang to his group after their farm was burned down. He remembered how clam he felt as he listened to them sing. Everything that transpired the night before was forgotten for that short time when he heard them. Though the song was short, it felt like he heard them singing for hours. He never wanted them to stop. God knows how’d he feel if Beth was still here and sang along with the piano.

Judith’s head perked up when she practically _sensed_ someone staring at her. Looking over her shoulder, she grinned the largest grin Carl had ever seen when she saw him.

“Carl!” She cried out, running at him with her arms open. Said brother slid on the floor like a pro-baseball player and embraced his sister, holding her close to him as her small arms wrapped around his neck. The anxiety he had without her melted away once he realized she was alive and well. That was all that mattered to him, “I-I was afraid you were…” She couldn’t even finish her sentence.

“Dead?” He finished with a small chuckle in amusement, “It’s going to take a lot more than that to take me down.” He then broke the hug and his smile dropped to a frown, “Judith…is everything okay? Are you hurt? Did these people do anything to you?”

Judith shook her head, “I’m fine, big brother. Even if they tried, I wouldn’t let them do anything.”

“Right.” He nods his head before grabbing ahold of her shoulders, “Judith, that girl before said you tried to cut her. Is that true?” Her grin quickly vanishes and she lowers her head, only for Carl to gently grab her chin and make her look him in the eye, “Answer me, Judith.”

“...Yes.” She answers much to Carl’s surprise, “B-but because she didn’t answer the questions. Remember you said that if nobody answered our questions then we’re in danger? I-I was just doing what you said…”

“And that’s a good thing you are, but from now on, no more threatening people.” Carl stated, scolding his sister like a parent would to their child, “And no more questions. They took care of me. Besides, if they wanted to do something, they would’ve already done it.” Unbeknownst to them, the music slowly faded away.

Judith sucks her teeth but nods, “Okay.”

A new voice spoke up, “Oh, you’re not dead. That’s good.” Both Carl and Judith turned around to see the boy playing the piano smiling at Carl, turning on the bench to face them, “Watched your kid for you.”

“I have a name…It’s Judith.” She narrowed her eyes at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

The boy chuckled at her, “Excuse me. I watched _Judith_ for you.”

Compared to the rest of the kids, this guy was a lot more laid back than them, something Carl hasn’t seen in anybody in a long time. Even his tone was more laid back compared to the people in his old group. It was, believe it or not, nice to see someone so mellow.

“I appreciate it.” Carl gives the boy a nod, “I hope she wasn’t too much trouble.”

The boy shrugs his shoulders, “Not really. She was quiet until Ruby entered, then…well, I’m sure you know what happened next.”

“Yeah, sorry you had to see that.” Carl rubbed the back of his head while placing his hand behind Judith’s back to comfort her, “Judith hasn’t been with people, let alone around our ages. She just needs some help with her social skills.”

The boy glanced down at Judith, who’s face was as red as a tomato from embarrassment, “Don’t worry about it. I can help freshen up her people skills.” He flashed Carl a warm smile before facing the keys once again, “Besides, I was helping her stay calm with my alluring music.” He started to play the same song as before, “I’m Louis, by the way.”

“Carl.” He greeted back.

Louis kept playing as he gestured to something behind him, “Oh, right. Totally forgot. Marlon left your bag somewhere back there.”

Thanking him, Carl spotted his bag underneath a table and grabbed it. Lifting it up, he was pleased to find out that it still weighed the same he last had it. Thankfully they didn’t steal from him. He set it down behind Judith and pulled out the first thing he saw; his hatchet. Smiling, he slipped it back into its sheath on his belt. Judith turned and stood in front of him, watching her brother look through their bag just incase they found anything they needed on them.

The next thing he pulled out was their Dad’s Colt Python. It was still as heavy as ever, but it wasn’t a problem for them to carry. He remembered when his Dad first let him shoot it. The kick it had was so insane that when he first fired it, it flew right out of his hands. Luckily, he grew stronger over time so now he didn’t have to worry about the kick.  Carl held the barrel in his hand and held out the handle for his sister to grab.

The music abruptly stopped.

“Um…” Louis watched in awe when Judith took hold of the gun and spun the cylinder, “Double um…”

“You want me to hold onto it?” Judith asked with slight shock, examining the few bullets in the chamber, “I thought this was for emergencies only?”

“It is.” Carl confirmed with a smirk, “But I want you to keep it safe for us.”

Louis leaned forward from his seat on the bench, “Does she know what that is?”

Judith only ignored him, “Back in the safe spot.” She says, gently placing the Python in the back pocket of her jeans.

“Where it belongs.” Carl added.

Louis spoke up again, “Dude. That can’t be a good idea.” His face was written with concern, “That thing’s bigger than she is. Is it actually loaded?” To his shock, Judith nods her head, “Oh, even better. Give the biggest gun you have to the smallest and youngest person here…sounds smart.”

Carl rolled his eye at him before joking, “I guarantee she’s a better shot than you.”

“Hey.” Louis looked offended for a split second before shrugging his shoulders, “Whatever. You do your thing, I guess.”

He resumed the song while Carl and Judith stood close by, watching him play. “You know any other songs?” Carl asked him.

“There _is_ one, but it doesn’t fit the mood I’m in now.” Louis replies with a smirk on his face. He then noticed the awestruck look Judith had on her face and removed his hands from the keys. The siblings all rose their eyebrows at him while he scooted over in his bench, leaving an empty spot next to him, “You wanna give it a try?” He smiled at Judith while patting the spot next to him.

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree while letting out a small gasp from excitement. Could she really play? Grinning, she looked up at her brother and tugged on his sleeve, “Can I, Carl? Please?”

He couldn’t help but grin back and nod his head, “Go ahead, Judith.”

Judith practically jumped on the bench and started to press random keys, creating a disaster of a sound, before Louis stopped her, “Hey, hey, hey! Take it easy. One key at a time. That’s how you learn.” Judith looked disappointed but still nods her head, “Good. Now, press this key right here.” She pressed the key as instructed, “Now this one.” She pressed another key, “And this one.” She pressed another one, “And this one.” She pressed one more.

Carl smiled at the short yet sweet tune his sister played, “You’re better than me, Lil’ Asskicker.” He laughed when she turned to face him with a smile on her face.

“Lil’ Asskicker?” Louis rose his eyebrow with a smirk on his face, “Big title for such a small package. She worthy of that name?”

“Trust me, she deserves it.” Carl chuckles, “She’s been kicking ass ever since she was born.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Louis then glanced down at Judith, “You’re a natural, miss. Maybe one day _you_ can teach _me_ something new.” Judith felt her cheeks get hot and she quickly turned away from him, covering her face.  

The door suddenly flew open, causing the three to jump from surprise. Marlon came jogging in, looking worried as hell while clutching an arrow for his bow in his hand. Louis stood up from his spot on the bench and Carl cocked his head to the side, confusion written on his face.

“Hey!” He called out to Louis, “Have you seen Rosie?”

He shook his head, “Nope.”

Marlon’s shoulders slumped, “Shit. We’ve got a bit of a situation out there.” He then glanced at Carl, “Um, I hate to ask, you just coming to and all, but we could really use a hand. You up for taking out a few deadheads?” Carl’s good eye narrowed with determination and he nods his head, “You, too, Louis. Get your ass in gear.”

Louis groaned in protest when Marlon jogged out the room, “Ugh! Fine.” Taking one last glance at Carl, he rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders before leaving the room with Carl and Judith in tow.


	3. Dance of Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marlon turns to Carl and Judith for help against the walkers they've drawn near the school. Not only that, but Carl will find out the potential impact Judith will have on another kid's life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I decided to add a few more tags so you guys know what to expect from this book. Thank you for reading!

Judith was the first one outside before the others. She stood near the large-rusted and vine covered gate, watching as Marlon dealt with the two other kids in front of him who all faced away from him. The shortest of the two, a girl with blonde hair like hers but wasn’t braided, had her arms crossed over her chest and her head was lowered as if she didn’t want to be bothered with. The girl stood like that for quite some time, letting out a few huffs once in a while. A small gust of wind managed to blow some of her hair in her face, making the older girl groan in annoyance and brush the hair away. Judith slightly shivered from the breeze, her denim jacket failing to keep her fully warm.

The older girl looked over her shoulder, a grave look stuck on her face as her blue-colored eyes landed on Judith. The younger girl jumped a bit when she caught her looking before cocking her head to the side when the girl’s grave looked morphed into an amusing smirk. She then fixated her head forward to face the gate again. Judith wasn’t sure what that was about, but something told her she’d grow to like her. Hopefully she was thinking the same thing.

She then turned her attention at Marlon. The mullet-haired boy made his way towards another boy his age, his hands on his hips as the latter leaned against the stone wall. She hasn’t seen this boy yet and seemed more distant than the rest, even more-so than the girl earlier, judging by his stance. She couldn’t hear the conversation, but she knew Marlon had triggered the boy because his eyebrows knitted together and he snapped his head to the side, refusing to look at Marlon any more. His caramel-brown curly hair swayed with him when he turned which she found kind of funny. The boy then made a hiss-like noise when Marlon spoke up again, but later shook his head with a groan when the former refused to respond.

“Where’s your brother, Judith?” Marlon asks, approaching the young girl with a small smile on his face. “I thought he was behind you when you left?” Despite what had transpired with the other boy, she was surprised Marlon was able to keep such a positive attitude.

“He was…” She replies, looking back at the main building where she came from. Her brother and that boy, Louis, weren’t too far from her until she came outside to see them nowhere nearby. Not seeing her brother made her nervous, but she was tougher than that. “I don’t know where they went.”

“Well, they better hurry up. We got walkers to deal with.” He says, gesturing to the woods on the other side of the gate. “You ever killed any before? Or does your brother do the work?”

Speak of the devil, Judith heard the faint growls and snarls from the ghouls in the woods. Even though they looked scary with their rotten flesh and horrible stench, she _never_ was afraid of them. They were simply a nuisance to her. She hated hearing their familiar growls. She hated that weak things like those are able to kill people. She hated the fact that people were _scared_ of those things. The stories Carl told her about his friends and family having their lives _taken_ because of them angered her. _They_ were part of the reason why she has no family. _They_ ruined everyone’s lives. _They_ were the reason why she didn’t have the perfect life like the characters from her stories. She wanted to kill _every_ last one of them!

“I kill them all the time.” She responds coldly, glaring at the direction where their snarls were coming from. “They’re _easy_ to kill. I don’t get why people can be scared of those ghouls. We’re a lot smarter than them, so there’s no reason for us to get eaten by them.”

Marlon simply blinked at her, unable to comprehend on what she just said. Having a questionable look on his face, he turned his head to the older blonde-haired girl, who also had a surprised look on her face. Her mouth was slightly open and her eyebrows were risen as she met eye contact with him. She then shrugged her shoulders at him, dropping the subject as quickly as possible. Marlon scratched the back of his head, now having a quizzical look on his face.

“Uh…sure. At least you know how to handle yourself.” He says with an uneasy tone.

“Hey!”

Everyone turned their heads to see Louis and Carl walking towards them, one with a grin on his face and the other with a small smirk. Judith smiled once she saw her brother, the sudden feeling of comfort washing over her small body. Marlon stepped away from her and approached them while the other two teens stole a glance in their direction. Though she couldn’t tell, she had a feeling they looked straight at her brother instead of Louis. She stood still as the three conversated with each other with Louis doing more of the talking instead of Carl. At one point, she saw her brother cross his arms over his chest and narrow his eye at Marlon, who quickly threw his hands up to explain himself.

Curiously, she made her way towards the three, wondering what they were talking back. Whatever they talked about surely tempered her brother, and that alone raised some questions she wanted answered. “…I’m not tryin’ to say anything, Carl. Just asking…” She managed to hear Marlon defend himself when she got a good distance away from them.

Carl opened his mouth to say something, but Louis beat him to it. “I’m sure he didn’t mean to take it to heart. Besides, take it easy on him, will ya? It’s been a long time since he’s been with people. He just needs some freshening up on his social skills.” He then swung a large-wooden, white painted chair leg that had rusted nails poking out the top of it over his shoulder.

“Gee, thanks Louis.” Her brother rolled his eye at him.

“No need to thank me. Just helping the new guy out.” Louis gave Carl a pat on his back, which made him furrow his eyebrows together. He then spotted her from over Marlon’s shoulder and his grin grew. “Hey, Judith! You eavesdropping on us?” Carl and Marlon faced her, with her brother shooting her a look that basically said _Have you lost your damn mind?_ Louis noticed the look he was giving her and quickly came to her rescue. “Not that it’s a bad thing. We weren’t discussing anything important. Don’t worry.”

“Still, we could’ve been. Just…don’t eavesdrop on us. Okay, Judith?” Carl sighs out, erasing the previous look he had with a more pleading one. She nods her head, making her brother give her a small smile in appreciation. “Good. Only eavesdrop when I need you to.” Marlon flashed him a look and Carl kept the smile on his face as he made eye contact with him. Louis chuckled loudly with the slight shake of his head.

“Hey! We doing this or what?” The blonde girl near the gate shouts, clearly aggravated with them.

“These walkers ain’t gonna kill themselves!” The other boy shouts, adjusting the large sheath he had on his back. It was long enough to fit a machete inside, so Judith figured that was his choice of weaponry. _‘If only they could…’_ She thought to herself while watching the boy face away from them again.

“Cool your jets there, Rambo!” Louis exclaimed to them. “We’re coming!” The girl rose her hand and stuck out her middle finger at him while the boy visibly scoffed at him with the shake of his head. Marlon then instructed them to follow and they obliged. Approaching the gate, Judith looked over the metal bars of the gate to see the ghouls staggering in the distance. Just seeing them made her blood boil.

“We’ve got a bunch of walkers in the area.” Marlon explained to them again, his hands on his hips as he motioned to the woods just on the other side. “More than usual. You got your stuff with you?” His question was directed at Carl. The latter nods his head and unsheathes the hatchet from his belt. “Good. We’re gonna need you to put it to use. We’ve got a hunting party trying to get back inside. Need our help clearing the way. We wouldn’t have this problem if there wasn’t so many fucking walkers lately.”

“It’s almost like something drew their attention.” The blonde-haired girl smirks, glancing over her shoulder at Carl. Hearing her voice, Judith stepped away from the gate and stood by her brother’s side. “Something like…I don’t know…an explosion. Or a building collapsing.” Carl didn’t take lightly to that and glared at her. Judith, however, crossed her arms over her chest, mirroring her position, and lowered her head slightly as she scowled at her. The blonde girl took notice and forced a smile on her face as she found the young girl’s attempt at intimidating her priceless. “Good job, kid. You’re scaring me more than your brother here.”

Judith jumped a bit, taken aback with her eyes going wide. She really thought that? She was more scary than her own brother? She glanced up at her brother, who continued to glare at her, to which the girl only ignored him and faced away. Was it because she had two eyes, Judith thought to herself with a small hum. Hopefully she meant it too. That comment made her spirits get lifted. The other boy across from them leaned forward off the wall and faced them, his arms still crossed over his shoulder.

A scar was clearly visible on his face, running from the bridge of his nose to the middle of his left cheek, most likely from a cut. The scar was old, according to Carl, since the pigment had faded into his light-skin. The freckles on his face was also clearly visible. They were spotted all around his face from his nose to his cheeks. Along with the freckles was dirt that looked recent. The black smudges were visible on his forehead and the sides of his face.

“Whatever it was, someone was dumb enough to let that happen.” The boy scoffed at the siblings, narrowing his eyes at them. “I don’t know how you two did it, but whatever you did you clearly weren’t thinking about the consequences that would follow. Use a grenade…that definitely won’t draw walkers. In a barely standing church nonetheless.” Carl grit his teeth together, feeling his own blood boil in his body. “Real smart if you ask me.”

“I _didn’t_ know about the grenade. We were just looking for food and someone rigged the place!” Carl growled, clutching his fist while taking a step forward at the taller boy. “How were we supposed to know?”

“You should have checked the place before assuming anything.” The boy responds rather calmly compared to Carl’s tone with his posture more collective than his as well. “That’s the first thing you do when you’re scavenging. You definitely didn’t know what you were doing back there.”

“All I _need_ to know is how to _survive_.” Carl shot back at him. Who the fuck does this guy think he is? What’s his problem with him? So many questions formed in his head but at this point, all Carl wanted to do was prove this prick wrong. “That’s all I’ve been focused on. You really think I care about shit like that?”

“If you keep thinking like that,” The boy uncrossed his arms and stood nose to nose with the one-eyed teen. Louis quickly stood between the two, his hands raised to calm things down while having a concerned look on his face. None of them seemed to back down during the confrontation. Both kept their feet planted on the ground and Carl was glaring at him while the other boy simply looked at him, which irritated Carl even more. “Then both you, and your sister, aren’t gonna live to see another day.”

At that point, all Carl saw was red. Just before he could react, Louis stepped in and broke the two apart, holding Carl back while the boy stood in his spot with his hands in his pockets. Judith turned her attention at the older boy and glared dangerously at him, which made the girl from earlier hide a chuckle when she glanced at her. She hasn’t seen someone get her brother so angry…and that started to ring alarms in her head.

“Enough!” Marlon yells, darting his eyes between Carl and the boy before they rested on the former. “If you’re gonna stay here, you’re gonna need to learn how to control yourself.” Carl nods his head, relaxing himself when he spotted Judith giving him a worried look. Marlon then looked at the other boy with annoyance. “And you need to give the new guys a chance, Brett. They’ve been out in the wild by themselves for a long time.” The boy, named Brett, simply made a small grunt in response.

“Okay, since everyone is now in a mood, I’ll do introductions.” Louis rubbed the back of his head before pointing at Violet and leaning towards Carl. “This is Violet. She’s pleased to meet you, even though she isn’t showing it. Trust me, she’ll grow on you.” He then points to Brett. “And that’s Brett. Dude is super hard to read. But, you’ll get used to him being around you. Well, that is if you don’t try to rip his head off again.” Louis then chuckles at himself in amusement while Carl shot him an annoyed look.

The two overheard him and, in unison, flipped him the bird.

Willy, still atop of the small watchtower, looked down at the group and put on his best ‘serious’ face. “All right, boys…” He voice trailed off once he noticed Violet and Judith among the group of guys. “…and girls. They’re starting to fill in!” He pointed over at the woods as walker snarls grew closer. Brett flung the gate open with a swift kick and jogged further down the path with Violet closely in tow. Marlon, with a confident look on his face, turned to Carl and took out an arrow from the pouch strapped to his back.

“Good luck out there.” He says with a nod. Carl nodded back and watched him jog off for a moment until Louis blocked his view, a warm smile on his face. Judith, now next to her brother’s side, took out her signature butterfly knife and clutched it tightly, anxiously waiting for her brother’s permission to get to work.

“Don’t mind Violet and Brett.” Louis tried to reassure Carl. “They’ll warm up to you. I promise.”  The son of Rick Grimes, however, only stared at the chair leg over Louis’s shoulder. Though it wasn’t an exact copy, his weapon started to give him flashbacks of Lucille. It didn’t look as deadly, since it belonged with Louis and he couldn’t even make a chainsaw look deadly, but it had the right amount of similarity to send shivers down his spine. “Uh…Carl? You okay, man? You look spooked.” Louis rose his eyebrows in concern.

“…Yeah. Yeah. I’m fine.” He shakes his head a bit to get out of his thoughts. “Sorry. It’s just…your weapon reminds me of someone. Someone bad I’ve met.” Judith perked her head up to notice the nervous look her brother had. Louis had a somewhat shocked look on his face for a moment until spotting Judith’s worried expression, to which he then smiled at him.

“Who? “Chairles”?” He gestured to the chair leg in his hand. Carl nearly choked from the corny name while Judith tilted her head to the side curiously. Weapons can have names? Were they even allowed to? “Nothing to be worried about, dude. “Chairles” is quite a gentleman to most people. Walkers, though, not so much.” He faced away from them and jogged out of the gate before calling them over his shoulder. “C’mon, you two!”

Once her brother gave her the go-ahead, Judith took a few steps down the dirt path, darting her head any direction wherever she heard the ghouls. From what she was able to pick up, the ghouls were mostly coming from straight ahead. She looked over her shoulder to see Carl shut the gate behind him before she pointed in the direction of the ghouls once he laid his eye on her. He nods and she took off without missing a beat causing Carl to chuckle at her as he followed. Leaves and twigs broke under his size ten boot as he followed his sister through the trees, coming to a halt when walkers revealed themselves from behind the trees, along with Marlon and the others fighting them off. A handful of them limped their way towards them, reaching out for them.

Carl narrowed his eye as he slowly backed away, waiting for any walker to make the first move. While doing so, he watched the others as they took out walkers of their own around them. Violet used a cleaver to do her work, slicing a maggot-invested right in the head. Brett was using a machete to swipe walker heads clean off their shoulders with no trouble at all. Louis used “Chairles” to bash a walker in the head with, which again, made him get shivers down his spine. Lastly, Marlon stood a good distance away from the walkers, using his bow to make his job a lot easier compared to the others. His accuracy was spot on, Carl thought to himself as he studied Marlon for another short moment.

He grit his teeth together when a walker, its mouth dripping with fresh blood from God knows what, staggered closer to him. No less than a second later, the blade of a hatchet was plunged right in its forehead. Carl grunted when he kicked the walker’s corpse back, releasing the grip its head had on his hatchet. A few feet ahead of him, Judith reeled her leg back and, with all her force, kicked a ghoul right in its shin. The ghoul snarled as it dropped to the ground before going limp when the young girl stabbed it right on top of its head. She then glanced in her brother’s direction to see him swipe at a ghoul, slicing its lower jaw clean off. However, it still kept moving and used all its body weight to overpower him as he tried to push the ghoul away.

As if she was going to _let_ those stupid things take her brother away from her!

Quickly, Judith ran towards her brother and gave out a war cry when she kicked the ghoul in the side of its knee. Its leg gave out by the girl’s steel-toe boot and Judith quickly plunged her knife in the back of its head. She felt its warm blood trickle down her closed hand when she squirmed the knife around in its head to get it unstuck. Carl, noticing her struggle, grabbed the walker’s head and pulled it towards him, allowing Judith’s knife to be freed. She smiled at her brother, thanking him with the nod of her head, to which he gratefully returned.

“Nice one, Lil’ Asskicker!” They heard Louis praise her across from them. “You were right about her, Carl! But you, however, can use a little more finesse! Watch and learn!” Carl blinked at him, unable to decide whether or not to take offense to that. They watched carefully when Louis led a walker closer to him, barely a few yards away from him. The walker took one last step before Louis took out a survival knife from his back pocket and cut a rope that was tied around the trunk of the tree.

Almost like a cartoon, a shadow covered the walker for a split second before the ground shook when a large rock fell on top of it, crushing it like an ant. Carl’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor in awe while Judith gapped at the trap and started to laugh in pure excitement. This was…new, according to Carl. Out of all the places he stayed at, none of them had traps like that. The closest thing to that was the walker trap he and his group used to distract The Governor and his people at The Prison. But even that couldn’t compare to this! It was like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon!

Judith thought that was the greatest thing she’d ever witnessed. She’s never seen a ghoul die like that before! It looked so…satisfying! Watching them being crushed like felt so relieving, like she _enjoyed_ watching it. She wanted to have a turn! Stupid ghouls like them deserve to get that treatment, and she was too excited to give it to them!

“And _that’s_ how you school a walker!” Louis gloated with a laugh. He placed his knife back in his back pocket then smirked at the siblings staring at him. “There’s a bunch of traps in this area just waiting for these asshats. They’re all marked so keep a lookout!”

Excitement quickly overtook Judith so she jogged to the nearest tree where a trap was set. She looked up and grinned to see a large rock dangling above her that was tied to the branches on the tree. Her head then fixated forward when she heard a ghoul approaching her, its bone-exposed hands reaching out to grab her. Smirking, she hovered her knife just above the rope to watch the stupid ghoul try to reach her. She then stuck her tongue out, teasing the creature just as she cut the rope. She heard a snap followed by a loud thud when the rock crushed the ghoul beneath it. Blood splattered on the dirt and some of the trees. Some even landed on Judith’s jacket, but she didn’t care. She was too busy taunting the ghoul’s lifeless and crushed body, yelling that it got what was coming to it followed by a barrage of name-calling.

Carl could only look on in concern.

A walker moan caught his attention and he took a step backwards, letting the decomposing walker get a little closer so he can strike. Carl looked in disgust when a piece of its flesh was flung from its forearm when it tried to swipe at him. He moved his head to the side to avoid the attack and swung his hatchet right on the side of its head. The walker immediately ate shit on the ground and went lifeless. Two more walkers revealed themselves just behind Carl, causing the one-eyed teen to grit his teeth in concentration. The closest of the two lunged at him only for him to dodge. He then kicked the walker behind its knee, causing it to fall face first on the ground. Carl stomped on its head, crushing it like a grape then groaning when he felt the mixture of brain and skull under his boot.

He turned his attention to the other walker who was staggering towards him. Ready to attack, he readied his hatchet until hearing creaking coming from atop the trees. To his shock, a large log was swung into the walker and crushed it between a nearby tree. Blood and flesh exploded everywhere, luckily enough for Carl it landed nowhere near him. Raising his eyebrow, he turned his head in the direction where the log came from to see his sister laughing sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

“You could’ve killed me, Judith!” He scolded her, furrowing his eyebrows together when she stopped laughing. “Warn me next time when you do something like that!”

“Yo!” Marlon’s voice stopped Judith from replying. “Over here!” Both Carl and Judith decided to drop the subject and run over to him, running into Violet and Brett along the way. Marlon and the others stood on the end of a small bridge just over a small stream while three other kids around Carl’s age sprinted towards them, two of them holding rabbits over their shoulders. The girl in front wore a orange, worn-out bubble vest with a camo sweatshirt underneath it, her light brown hair tied into a ponytail and her grey eyes wide in a panic.

The boy to her right was of Indian race and wielded a bow like Marlon, but this kid’s was wooden instead of metal like his. His plaid jacket was zipped all the way shut and his collar was slightly raised to keep his neck warm. Compared to the girl, he looked more focused than she did with his teeth grit. The other boy, who was taller than the most of the group, was looking ahead with a poker face, which started to creep Carl out. His mid-length, black hair was cut slightly above his eyes, resembling that a typical “surf” boy would get and his blue jacket was left unzipped revealing an orange shirt underneath it.

“Nice timing.” Violet shook her head at the hunting party in annoyance. “We’re not gonna be able to hold them off much longer.”

“No kidding.” The girl shot back at her, her eyes narrowed at Violet before turning to Marlon with a confused look on her face. “Where’d all these walkers come from?” Carl held his breath and Judith lowered her head in shame, but the girl hadn’t noticed it.

“We can talk when we’re back inside the gates.” Marlon replies. “Keep an eye out for stragglers. It’s easier to spot them in the daytime like this.” Everyone then split up with Marlon leading the hunting party back towards the gates while Carl, Judith, Brett, and Violet took the long way back, hoping to clear as much walkers as they can. The four walked together in an awkward silence with Carl and Judith standing between Brett and Violet. The younger girl had Violet by her side and Carl had Brett by his, which made him feel uncomfortable. He was still pissed at him after their confrontation and he wanted to say something, but that will only add more fuel to the fucking hot fire he already started.

Violet bit her lip as she stole a glance at Judith’s small body, who walked with the most confidence out of all of them. She remembered helping Marlon save her and her brother that day. She remembered that crushed look she had on her face to see her brother in the state he was in. It pained her to see a kid like that, especially someone so young and alone. There was no way someone like her was going to survive without her brother. Thankfully, Judith managed to change her mind that same hour. Usually, people who were scared stuck by the braver ones, clinging onto them in hopes of surviving the next threat that emerges.

Not Judith.

She took lead despite not knowing where she was going. She focused on her surroundings, stopping them every so often whenever she heard a noise she wasn’t familiar with. Her butterfly knife was drawn and she held it close to her, not only to protect her brother, but to protect _herself._ Of course, she never opened her mouth whenever her or Marlon tried to start a conversation. That’s another thing; Judith was _cautious._ She hasn’t seen a kid like that in quite some time. Not even herself acted like that at that age. Granted, kids needed to grow up fast nowadays, but Judith was, in her eyes, something special.

“You weren’t half-bad out there, kid.” Violet spoke up, a small smile curving her lips as she looked down at the younger girl. Judith met her gaze, a grin on her face at the compliment she earned. “I see you can handle yourself pretty well. Maybe you don’t need your big brother after all.” Carl flashed her a scowl, to which Violet only smirked at. “Relax, I was only kidding…well, kinda. You weren’t that bad either. Considering the circumstances and all…”

Carl dropped his scowl and nods at her. “…Thanks.”

“Yeah. Thank you.” Judith said.

“Don’t mention it.” She smiled, though the comment was directed at Judith rather than her brother.

“Let’s hurry up and finish these guys off.” Brett spoke up with a hint of annoyance in his voice. “We don’t need them following us back to the school.” He sped up to get away from the three of them, unsheathing his machete in the process. Violet rolled her eyes at the scarred-boy’s aloof attitude before jogging away to deal with the walkers in front of them. Carl readied his hatchet and Judith took off on her own when she spotted a legless walker crawling towards Violet. The latter was too busy dealing with the walker in front of her, chopping a chunk of its head off its body. The crawling ghoul managed to take ahold of the then-distracted Violet’s ankle and opened its mouth to bite a chunk out of her until Judith plunged her knife in its head.

Violet cussed, yanking her foot out of the dead ghoul’s grasp. “God dammit…” She breathed, kicking the ghoul’s reached out arm away from her. Noticing the younger child prepare herself for the next ghoul, Violet stood next to her and readied her cleaver. “Thanks. C’mon, let’s finish these guys off.” Judith nods her head confidently.

Carl smiled at the two of them. Not even a full day and someone is already fond of Judith. It’s even more of a surprise to him considering this was the first time in a long time she ever met people the same ages as them. He was afraid she’d worsen things, considering she had little to no social skills. Well, that and she was creeping people out _and_ threatened to cut off somebody’s finger all in the same day. So, you either had to see the good in her quickly or you just had to be as weird as her to grow fond of her so fast. For Violet’s sake, he hoped it was the former rather than the latter.

_TWISH!_

_THUNK!_

“Piece of shit…” Carl snapped his head in the direction of the voice to see the boy with the bow from the hunting party remove his arrow from the walker’s head. “I hate this cleanup bullshit.” Unbeknownst to him, another walker was sneaking up behind him. Luckily, the problem was solved before it even became his own when a hatchet landed right in the side of the walker’s temple. When its body dropped to the floor, the boy gasped and spun around. “Shit!” Carl approached the dead walker and reclaimed his hatchet from its head, shooting the boy a grin. “Oh…Uh, thanks for that. New guy, right?”

“Yeah. I’m Carl.” Said teen introduced himself, placing his gloved hand on his chest.

“Aasim.” The other teen, Aasim, nods his head.

“Woah! Cool!” Carl rose his eyebrow once he heard his sister’s voice. After giving Aasim a nod in farewell, he made his way to the others when he noticed Judith looking at something with a large grin glued to her face. Violet stood next to her, her arms crossed over her chest with a smirk on her face as she too looked on in amusement. Brett, however, didn’t even acknowledge the two and walked off towards the gates, wiping the blood off his machete with his shirt.

As Carl walked closer, he started hearing very low growls, followed by the sound of flesh being torn. Then the sound turned into something of a melon being crushed, making Judith gasp in amazement at what she was seeing. Violet noticed him standing there, watching them with a confused look on his face, and gestured him to come over. Obliging, Carl’s good eye went wide when he finally realized what they were looking at that was so stunning. In front of them was a brown American Bully dog, its mouth soaked with blood and a dead walker next to it. The walker’s head was crushed with its brains and pieces of it skull resembling mush on the ground. The dog shook its head until spotting the three of them staring at it. It studied both Judith and Violet, its tail wagging once it locked eyes with the latter.

When it locked eyes with Carl, it growled dangerously. Carl stood as stiff as a board when the dog was approaching him, looking like it was ready to pounce on him at any moment. He never had any experience with dogs, but his last encounter with dogs didn’t end so well…for the dogs. He and his group were starving after traveling for so long when a group of dogs cornered them. They were rapid and wanted to attack them. Plus, they were going to draw in walkers with their constant barking. Sasha stepped up and put a bullet in them and…ate them. With this dog, though, he hoped this encounter will turn out to be a lot better. But by the looks of it, it won’t.

“Good girl!” The dog stopped growling when Marlon came running over, bending to her level and petting her. “Shh, shh. Hey, hey, it’s all right, girl. It’s all right.” Marlon then looked up at Carl and Judith. “Hey, I see you two are making friends with Rosie.”

 _‘This was the “Rosie” Marlon was looking for?’_ Carl thought to himself, his eye slightly wide at the two.

“She’s so cool! I’ve never seen a dog before! I’ve only read about them.” Judith approached closer to Marlon and Rosie. “Can I pet her?”

“Of course!” Marlon laughs while taking her hand and putting it near Rosie’s nose. “First, you gotta let her sniff you so she can remember your scent.” He explains whilst Rosie was doing just that. “Then the rest will come naturally.” As if on cue, Rosie nudged her head against Judith’s hand, allowing the girl to pet behind its ear. Judith gasped at how soft her fur was with Carl and Violet watching behind her, both having warm smiles on their faces. It was moments like this that made Carl wish their Dad was here to see. He wondered if he would’ve been proud on how he raised Judith. Proud of how tough she was, proud of how much of a fighter she was, and proud of how smart she was about this world.

“She’s a sweet kid.” Violet decided to spark a conversation with him despite not looking his way. She still watched Judith play with Rosie and she didn’t plan on stopping. “Makes it hard to believe that it’s been only the both of you out there.”

“It wasn’t easy.” Carl shakes his head, still watching Judith and Marlon play with Rosie. “She was a handful for a long time. A brat, I guess. I’m just glad she’s out of that phase by now.”

“Oh, it’ll come again. Trust me.” Violet then stiffened a chuckle after seeing Carl’s face lose its color.

“Alright,” Marlon shouts to everyone outside the gate, standing up while Judith returned to her brother’s side. “fun’s over. Sun’s gonna set soon so everyone back to base.” Marlon took point and led everyone back to the gates. Rosie ran ahead, eager to get home as quickly as possible. “How’d it go out there?” He asked Aasim when he caught up with him.

Aasim shot him a nasty look. “How do you think it went?”

“Be nice, Aasim!” The girl from before scolds him.

Aasim sighs out in defeat before answering correctly. “The safezone’s nearly dry—I could barely find enough for tonight. We’re gonna have to scout out further if we want food for the winter.”

For some odd reason to Carl, Marlon glanced over his shoulder at him for a moment before shaking his head at Aasim. “We’ll talk about it later.”

“Bullshit,” Aasim stepped in front of Marlon’s path and glared at him. “We should talk about this right now—”

“I said later, dammit.” Marlon bumped shoulders with Aasim as if he wasn’t even there.

Overhearing their conversation, Carl grew an uneasy feeling in his gut. The one thing he never liked about groups was the inner conflict that came with it. Sometimes, they can be just as bad as an outside threat. He’s seen it happen before with his Dad back when they first arrived at Alexandria. Shit hit the fan real quick once his Dad found out about the woman he liked was abused by her husband. Though, there was more conflict than that, but that was the major one he could remember. Carl was too busy in his thoughts to notice Louis catching up to him. He snapped back to reality when he heard Violet groan as soon as she saw the look on Louis’s face.

“Still standing, I see.” He says, but that wasn’t enough to get an answer from Carl. He then leans over to Violet. “I’d call that a B-plus performance there, Vi. You’ve done better.”

“Fuck off.”

Louis looked visibly hurt by her comment. “B-minus, then.” He then glanced over at Carl. “Carl? I’d give him a B-plus performance. I would’ve given him an A if he used the traps like I suggested.”

“Fuck off.”

Louis looked visibly hurt by _his_ comment. “Okay…a B, then. Now Judith, here?” He smirked down at the smaller girl, who looked anxious to hear what grade she was getting. “With all of those traps she’s been using and saving both of your asses, I’ll give her a solid A. A-plus even.” Awe quickly took over Judith and she looked straight up at her brother. A smile curved his lips as he gave his sister a proud nod, who then looked over at Violet for her reaction. Instead of a nod, she gave her a wink. “I’m glad we all agree, then.”

“You guys did good too!” Judith beams, practically skipping to the gates from sheer joy. “I’ll give Louis…an A!” Louis smiled proudly at himself, placing his hand over his chest. “Violet…an A-plus!” Violet smirked at the now jealous teen, who looked the most hurt from Judith’s grading than the previous comments he received. “And Carl…an A! But since he’s my brother, I’ll give him an A-plus!”

“Wha-?” Louis looked between Violet and Carl in confusion, both smirking over at him. “W-Wait…I taught you piano, remember? I even said you were better than me. How come Violet gets to have a higher grade than me?”

“Because she said we make a great team.” Was her only response when they entered through the gates again. Louis couldn’t help but feel somewhat _betrayed_ by the pint-sized survivalist, all the while ignoring Violet’s cocky shoulder shrug from beside him. Like she said, she was something special.

“Uh…What the fuck?” A new voice asks from across the courtyard. Carl, after shutting the gate behind him, tilted his head to the side at the figure sitting on one of the tables. It took him a moment to remember who this guy was. It was the same guy from this morning, the one who was waving at him like he knew him. In fact, he was even in the same spot when he first saw him! “You guys kill a bunch of walkers and I wasn’t invited? The fuck?” He jogged up towards them with a disappointed look on his face before furrowing his eyebrows together when he looked up at the watchtower where Willy stood. “The fuck, Willy? You were supposed to wake me up when they gathered everyone!”

Willy peeked down from the watchtower and shrugs his shoulders. “I forgot.”

“Don’t start blaming Willy, Derek.” Marlon says, annoyance in his voice as he stepped up to him. “You’ve got nobody to blame but yourself. Besides, we did just fine without you.” He then gestured to the two siblings behind him. “The new guys did more work than I’ve ever seen you do.”

The teen named Derek leaned to the side to notice them behind his leader and a smile curved his lips. “Damn, and I really wanted to see that.” He made his way towards them and held out his hand for the oldest of the two to shake. “I’m Derek, if you haven’t figured that out yet. It’s a relief to see new faces around here for once. I was getting sick of seeing the same faces every day for the past…uh…years, I presume? Seriously, seeing the same faces ever since this shit hit the fan is making me go a lil’ crazy.” Carl only stared at him with a bewildered look on his face. This guy was…odd, to say the least. In a way, he reminded him a lot like Louis minus the corny jokes he’d throw at him. It was like he was trying a little too hard to become his friend.  

“Yeah…” Carl shook his hand, still staring at him with the bewildered look he had. “I’m Carl. A-And this is Judith.” The small girl next to him waved at him, to which Derek waved back.

“Carl and Judith, huh?” He studied the two for a second, taking in their appearance with his hand on his chin as if he was thinking about something. “By the looks of it, you two have been through some _shit._ Is that the same look all outsiders have?” Violet sucked her teeth from beside them, rolling her eyes at Derek. “Just wondering, Vi. No need for that kind of attitude.”

“…I guess.” Carl shrugs his shoulders, unable to think of a proper answer.

Brett, after having a quick discussion with Aasim, approached Marlon with an annoyed look on his face. His hands were in his vest pockets as he walked up to him, his machete sheath swaying back and forth behind him. “Sun’s gonna set soon. We still haven’t went scavenging yet, Marlon. It’s best if we go now before it gets dark out.”

“What the hell is there _to_ scavenge, Brett?” Marlon huffs while placing his hands on his hips. “You and Derek already picked most of the safe-zone clean. I don’t know _why_ you two even bother.”

Brett’s eyes went wide for a split second before he started gritting his teeth together. Derek, who noticed the sudden change of expression, quickly ran over to him and placed his hand on his chest to hold him back incase he started to “go to town” on Marlon. “Hold on. What about that train station just past the woods? You know, the abandoned one?”

Marlon narrowed his eyes at him. “That’s _outside_ the safe-zone. You know you’re not allowed past it.”

“The safe-zone is starting to get dry.” Brett argued with him, glaring a hole through Marlon. “We’re gonna need as much food as we can to survive the winter, and that station is our best shot of making it through. Don’t be stupid, Marlon.”

“I _forbid_ it.” Marlon returned the glare, standing nose to nose with the slightly taller teen. “Don’t even _think_ of stepping one foot outside the safe-zone, or your ass is done for.”

Brett cocked his head to the side, offended by what he just heard. “What’s _that_ supposed to mean? You threatening me?” Carl and his sister watched on with tense, both growing that same uneasy feeling Carl had felt earlier.

Before Marlon could reply, Derek separated the two and stood between them. “Okay, okay, that’s enough.” He then turned his head to face Marlon, an apologetic look on his face. “Alright, Marlon, we _won’t_ go outside the safe-zone. We’ll just scout the places again just incase we’ve missed anything, even though the odds of finding us food are super fuckin’ thin. Right, Brett?” He met the boy’s gaze and gave him a small nod. Brett huffed and nods.

“Fine.” Marlon sighs out in defeat, rubbing his head. “Just…get back here before nightfall or you’ll miss dinner.” Derek nods at him while Brett only stared a him, not bothering to respond to his “leader”. Marlon took notice to this and quickly shot him a glare before turning to face Carl. “I know this is your first day and all, but you mind going with those two? They’re gonna need supervision.” Carl nods his head, making Marlon smile thankfully at him. “Thank you. From what I’ve seen, you have better luck than these two combined.”

“We’re burnin’ daylight. Hurry up.” Brett hurried the two, stepping towards the gates with Derek in tow.

“Can I come?” Judith asks, tugging her brother’s wrist while staring up at him. “Maybe we have even better luck if it’s the two of us together?” Carl bit his lip and crouched down to Judith’s height, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. He decided it was best if she stayed here, incase shit went south while they went. Even though she’s survived hell and back, he _had_ to listen to his gut on this one. He’d rather have her safe in here with some of the people she already befriended.

“Sorry, Judy, but I’m gonna take this one on by myself.”

“But you said we were a team…”

“We _are_ a team.” Carl corrected her, giving her should a small squeeze. “But you’ll be better off in here for a bit than out there. Hey, this can be an opportunity to make more friends. Get to know everybody for me, okay?”

“Can I ask them the questions?” She asks, a smile spreading on her face.

“…Only if they make you feel uncomfortable.” He replies, making Judith nod her head. “Good. Now, still got Dad’s gun on you? I’ll need to bring it with me incase things get hairy along the way.” Nodding again, Judith slipped out the Python from her back pocket and handed it to her brother. Brett, watching from the sidelines, crossed his arms over his chest and approached the two.

“A gun won’t be necessary.”

Carl glanced up at him and shrugs his shoulders. “Just in case.” He then focused back on his sister. “I’ll be back before nighttime. If you want, you can go hang out with Violet if she’s okay with it. Right, Vi?” He looked to the side at the blonde-haired teen, who seemed surprised by the sudden mention before nodding her head.

“Right.” She smiles. “Tenn has some crayons he can share. You like drawing, Judith?” When the girl nodded her head, Violet’s smile grew. “Perfect. C’mon, let’s go find him.” Judith wrapped her arms around her brother’s neck before following Violet back inside the main building.

Turning to Derek and Brett, Carl smirked at them while nodding his head. “So, where are we going?”

Brett turned to face him after opening the gate and, with a poker face, replies:

“The train station.”


End file.
